HonorFlight South Alabama takes vets to World War II memorial

WASHINGTON — To the sounds of a bagpipe and applause, nearly 100 veterans who flew up from Mobile marched into the National World War II Memorial on Wednesday, many seeing the giant granite and bronze structure for the first time.

They moved slowly, often with the help of wheelchairs or walkers, were dressed in commemorative T-shirts, rather than Army greens or Air Force blues, and the only shooting they did was with little, yellow disposable cameras.

View full sizeJohn David Mercer/Press-RegisterDoris Summersgill kisses her husband, veteran Bill Summersgill of Mobile, as he returned along with the rest of the 88 World War II veterans Wednesday night at Mobile Regional Airport. The group had taken part in an Honor Flight to visit the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C.

But the visit — made possible by HonorFlight South Alabama — brought them back to a time when friends and relatives were fighting and dying around them, and the very fate of the world was at stake, they said.

“There were several people that I flew with that we lost,” said Nick Nickerson, 87, of Spanish Fort, who enlisted in the Air Force in 1942.

It’s hard to think about those losses, particularly the death of his little brother, Leeland, whose Navy destroyer was sunk by the Japanese in the Philippines, Nickerson said.

“He was torpedoed at the same time I was in England, so I didn’t know about it ... for about a month after it happened,” he said.

But Nickerson added that he was proud of, and very surprised by, all the recognition being given to him and fellow veterans.

That’s typical of World War II vets, according to Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile.

“It’s always an emotional moment to see these humble, gentle older men and women, who even today don’t realize what they did to change the world,” Bonner said. “They really still don’t know why all the fuss.”

Some 16 million men and women from the United States fought the enormous military forces of Nazi Germany and imperial Japan between 1941 and 1945, and more than 400,000 Americans died in the effort.

HonorFlight groups from around the country — including Missouri, North Carolina and Wyoming — also brought veterans to visit the memorial Wednesday. Alabama was represented both by the group from Mobile and another from Tuscaloosa.

The nonprofit HonorFlight program, which is funded by donations, provides a charter plane to the nation’s capital, volunteers to accompany and assist the veterans, and medical personnel and equipment, all at no cost to the men and women who served.

“This is one program that is a home run,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile. “It’s not inexpensive, but based on the number of people that get to come, and the joy they get out of it, it’s worth every penny.”

Bonner; Sessions; Army Maj. Gen. Karl Horst ; U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa; and Gov. Bob Riley, who flew with the HonorFlight for the first time, all attended Wednesday’s event.